Vatican overseer to attend LCWR gathering

Published: 07 August 2013

The US archbishop who was given expansive oversight by the Vatican of American sisters will attend their annual gathering in mid-August and will speak of his role as their church-mandated overseer, reports NCR.

It is unclear, however, whether Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain will take questions from the approximately 900 leaders of the various orders of sisters across the country, who are expected to attend the event.

News of Sartain's presence at the assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) comes amid continuing uncertain times for the group, an umbrella organization of US sisters that the Vatican ordered to revise in April 2012 and gave the archbishop wide authority over its statutes and programs.

One former LCWR president said its members are preparing for this year's assembly with an 'ominous feeling.'

'We're going into this assembly knowing that there's a cloud over our head and that we are being investigated and they are going to be monitoring us,' said Mercy Sr Theresa Kane, who served as LCWR president from 1979 to 1980. Sartain, Kane said, is 'showing up, and he's staying for the entire assembly. It's monitoring. There's a cloud ... and we're living through it.'